Are Bon Jovi recording right now?

Richie will never come back... Ever... What he did was unforgivable... Phil is the guy... As fans we want to see it but if your JBJ, you don't need him...

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Thing is, right now Phil isn't the guy. He might be on the album sleeve and play most of the solos live but right now Shanks is closer to Richie's position that Phil will likely ever be. Phil just played on 4 new songs, 4 out of 19 (and 10 more counting Burning Bridges). I hope he's more involved in the next studio effort but if Shanks is still there, producing, being the second songwriter and main guitar player I doubt anything will change....

So true! Watched some KISS vids and man, it's awful :/

Only he isn't the guy when it comes to recording is he? Only appeared on 4 songs on THINFS.

It's not Jovi without Richie just like it wasn't GNR without Slash or LA guns without Traci guns or scorpions without Schenkar etc etc

Kind of but it's not that serious... Every bands situation is different... There are bands that have success with different lead singers and some lead singers go off and have bigger successes under their solo names... It's apples to oranges...

Phil is well liked and accepted with Bon Jovi fans and all those bands you mentioned above, don't share that same love with their replacements. Jon Bon Jovi is also a star... He is the franchise...

I don't know what Jon is thinking but one would think that a 55 Year Man with a shot voice, who has other passions, and 4 active kids is looking to slow down a little himself... He's not looking to tour the globe nonstop... He knows his days of having radio hits are over...

Jon just finished an extremely successful first leg and he didn't have to give Richie his portion... I'm sure Phil comes much cheaper...

At the end of the day, we all agree that Bon Jovi is better with Richie but Jon really doesn't need him... The albums are going to be what they are... They are going to sound the same, sell the same, and chart the same... the tours might be impacted a little but that is a combination of multiple factors and not just Richie... but like I stated, Jon is saving millions not having to pay him...

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I don't think that saving lots of bucks is what keeps Jon that happy these days.

No one does but if we are stating facts, one could attest that Phil is cheaper than Richie... and that's most likely why Jon limits his contributions with recordings and creativity...

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So Phil's just made an 'official' member per se. Hugh has never been more than a bass player anyway... Shanks is still running the machine these days it seems :3

For the Record, I don't think they are official members... Let's be careful with this... Phil got a SWW Necklace so he's an official member to the organization... I don't think he's an official band member... or Hugh either for that matter... Jon was kinda put on the spot and gave a hesitant answer...

Right now it's Phil's gig, he's a member to the organization, and Jon needs bodies to fill album photos... And I think that's were it ends... Time will tell but Bon Jovi is still Jon, Tico, and Dave

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That's not true at all. Phil was presented the necklace right after the BWC for his contributions, when the Richie's permanent position in the band was still in question, at least publicly.

Long before Jon was "put on the spot", Phil was already appearing on official photos related to the THINFS single and then featured on the video together with Hugh, who hasn't been featured in those type of things despite his long-time involvement. More importantly, they were listed as members on their Facebook page, which, again, wasn't the case previously. And so the question in the interview you're referring was asked to Jon as a result of that.

I agree that "needing bodies" to fit the image of a band probably played an important part in Phil and Hugh becoming members, but this was obviously a calculated decision made by Jon/band/management and nobody was "on the spot".